An American federal grand jury indicted nine members of “Oath Keepers” on Friday over the charges of conspiring the January 6 attack on the US Capitol riots. Previously in January, the authorities had indicted three associates and in Friday’s superseding judgment the rest were charged.
Besides, the government added a charge against one individual for tampering with evidence by deleting his posts on social media platforms. The indictment alleges that the militia group conspired to storm the US capitol building as far back as November and contemplated staging a self-styled “quick reaction force” outside Washington that would be ready to move in if ordered by the former Republican president.
More:
- Independent Commission To Investigate Capitol Riots
- Capitol Riots: FBI Probing Link To Foreign Governments, Groups
So far, the law enforcement agencies have charged a total of two-hundred people for their roles in the unprecedented violence that resulted in five fatalities, including Capitol police officers. In recent weeks, the FBI has been investigating whether the far-right groups, including Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, planned the riots ahead of the protests. Meanwhile, as many as eight members of Proud Boys have been charged.
Next week, some defendants are scheduled to appear in federals courts in North Carolina and Florida. Besides, the criminal complaints filed in the case suggest that a few defendants did not seem concerned that they would face criminal charges and jail time.
According to the texts obtained by the FBI, one of the defendants said, “I’ve been following FBI wanted list, seems they’re only interested in people who destroyed things. I wouldn’t worry about them coming after us.” Apart from that, soon after the Capitol riots, the Democratic lawmakers pushed ahead with their plan to impeach Trump over inciting violence. However, the upper chamber of the US Congress acquitted the former president, even though seven Republicans broke party ranks voted in favor of his conviction.
